Semantics

THE CONNOTATIVE COMPONENT OF MEANING (CONNOTATION)

• is what the word implies in addition to its denotative meaning. It is the set of associations that a word’s use can evoke.
• E.g. a hovel: “a small house” + “miserable, dirty, in bad repair, unpleasant to live in”.
• Types of connotation:
• emotive
• evaluative
• expressive (intensifying)
• pragmatic (i.e. connotation of duration, manner, cause, etc.)

THE CONNOTATIVE COMPONENT

• lonely: unhappy (emotive connotation)
• notorious: about something bad (evaluative connotation, negative)
• celebrated: about something good (evaluative connotation, positive)
• to adore: deep feeling (expressive connotation)
• to glare: steadily (connotation of duration) + in angry, fierce way (emotive connotation)
• to glance: briefly (connotation of duration)

DENOTATIVE AND CONNOTATIVE COMPONENTS

• Often a word’s connotation is fully explained in the dictionary.
• Otherwise it can be realized through the context.
• E.g. Los Angeles is notorious for its smog.
• Denotative and connotative components make up the semantic structure of a word.

SEMANTIC TRANSFER

• The process of development of a new meaning (or a change of meaning) is termed transference.
• Types of transference:
• metaphor
• metonymy

METAPHOR

• Metaphor is a type of transference based on the similarity of the objects, qualities or phenomena denoted by the words.
• Types of metaphor:
• similarity of shape: thus we can speak of the eye of a needle
• position: head of a tree
• function: hands of a clock, etc.

METONYMY

• is based on the contiguity (смежность) of the objects, qualities or phenomena denoted by the words.
• Types of metonymy:
• The name of the place - its inhabitants: school
• Quality - the subject of this quality: beauty Material - the product made of this material: bronze, clay, silver
• Animal – the meat of this animal: fowl, turkey Action – the subject of the action: safeguard, support